The Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN); a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), has petitioned Governor Peter Mbah seeking the reformation of the administration of Justice at the Magistrates Courts in Enugu State.
In a statement by the President of CRRAN, Olu Omotayo Esq. made available to newsmen in Enugu, the rights group said this has become necessary in view of “gross denial and frustration of Justice threat. “
The group cited the case of Godwin Odey and Yusuf Omotara, which it said they clearly showed grave violations of the right to access to Justice of citizens in Enugu State and the refusal of the authorities to take prompt and immediate actions to redress those grave violations.
“Godwin Odey an innocent citizen was arraigned at the Magistrate Court Enugu, on a Trump up Charge of murder on the 24th day of September 2025, and was remanded at the Enugu prisons.
“Our organization, alongside the “Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Center(RULAAC)”, wrote to the office of the Honorable Attorney General to look into the case and ensure Justice.
“Ordinarily the case file ought to be transferred immediately to the office of the Attorney General for prompt action but that was not done.
“The office of the Honorable Attorney General after receiving our complaint, thereafter wrote a letter to the magistrate Court to transfer the case file to the office of the Attorney General for review but up till now the case file has not been transferred to the office of the Attorney General for review and the innocent citizen continued to languish in detention. ”
According to the Omotayo: “Our investigations at the Ministry of Justice shows that this is not an isolated case as transfer of cases files from the Magistrates Courts take very long time to be transmitted to the office of the Honorable Attorney General particularly some case files from Magistrates Courts outside Enugu township take up to two years before being sent to the office of the Honorable Attorney General.
“These practice and actions at the Magistrates’ Court have made the Ministry of Justice not to be able to perform its’ duties effectively and efficiently thereby hindering the administration of justice in the state.
CRRAN appreciated the fact that the state government had over the years invested a lot of funds to improve the Justice system in the state.
“However, we submit that if we are going to have efficient administration of Justice in this state, all these illegalities and abnormalities being perpetrated by public officials at the Magistrates Court in the state need to be urgently addressed because Magistrates’ Courts are the nearest to the people in the hierarchy of Courts.
“We, therefore, demand that the government take urgent steps to address these situations and further demand an immediate and urgent action on these matters to ensure that no innocent citizen of this country is made to suffer for what he knows nothing about.
“We urge the state to urgently take action on this matter with a view to ensuring that justice is done in respect of the matters as the circumstances of these cases demand, ” Omotayo said.
